Farsighted leadership

Dr Sumedha Kushwaha *

There was a time when it was believed that earth was the centre of the Universe. Galileo Galilei, the famous Italian physicist and astronomer challenged this theory and began publishing papers that it is actually the sun, which is the centre of the universe and all other planets merely revolve around it.

This was a crime at that time and he was accused of Heresy for the fact that he had openly opposed the teachings of the Church. For this, he was sent to life imprisonment. Imagine, Galileo, a genius who developed the telescope and was the first to comment that the moon was rough and uneven was sentenced to life imprisonment for challenging existing beliefs.

Have you ever thought that whenever a new idea is borne in the human mind (in the conscious realm), it has a 100% probability to become a physical reality (the manifested realm). When the Wright brothers would have told people that something can fly in the sky, people would have thought, these two men have gone bonkers.

Or for that matter, Mr. Edison or Mr. Graham Bell, would have been ridiculed for their ideas as they were thinking something ahead of their times. An idea is something that can change the way things have been done for the past several centuries. The problem is that we humans resist change and hence do not like to believe something that causes us discomfort.

What is the opposite of courage? Most people think that it's cowardice. No, the opposite of courage is conformity. Conformity to what the society and people of our times seem to think is right.

Conformity is saying yes without questioning WHY, not understanding HOW and really not thinking WHAT. Why, what and how are the most important questions to ask yourselves when you have a strong urge to blindly believe in what others are saying.

Why are we conforming to the norms of the society? The set standards- go to school, get a job/ if you can’t get a decent job- do some business/ marry/ have children/ die. There is a difference between living life and surviving it.

The question to ask ourselves each morning is “are we living this life without any purpose and passion?”. Our lives as Dr. Dyer says” is a parenthesis in eternity” which means we have come from somewhere and we are going someplace and all we got is our time in between these two brackets of birth and death.

And none of us knows how long or short this time is. And yet, after all this enlightening knowledge what we are seeking in life? We seek security, safety, approval from others around, external validation.

However, ironically innovation and ideation is beautiful when you have someone to believe in your craziness, agree with your bad plans and support your madness. It’s a lonely journey but it is totally worth the effort to think outside of the box and challenge our own paradigms in the company of someone who trusts this process just like you.

If you find a companion in this tough and tiring journey, don’t be short-sighted. Do not look for short gains and easy solutions. Look towards a lifelong partnership by adding value to each other’s life and the lives of all around you.

When you team up with people towards a common goal, try to find what you don’t have and the teammate has. Take advantage of their strengths and fix problems in a leak-proof way. There are times when we become overtly obsessed with our own ideals and plans and our cup is so full, that we do not allow ourselves to be open towards other people’s ideas and thoughts.

Partnerships are beautiful if the intent behind them are mutual progress, cooperative gain and unconditional support.

I remember vividly when we were given difficult homework, no matter how much I wanted my mother to do it for me and take a short cut- she would never do it. She would just sit beside me and help me find my own solutions.

Teammates working on innovative projects should be like this. They should help each other strengthen systems and challenge the incorrect ideals amongst themselves. Innovative Entrepreneurship is probably the hardest thing.

It is certainly easy to do what others are doing and blindly follow them. But it is very exciting to carve a niche for your own self and do something that is totally different. Don’t be shy to try new things and understand that there is a different genre of people with varied skill sets. Be open, so people can be involved to help solve the problems in your ecosystem.

Wish you a happy weekend.